Pesto
This is an easy, and very adaptable recipe. Usually, pesto is made with basil, olive oil, pine nuts, a bit of garlic, and Parmesan cheese. However, in the recipe, I leave out the Parmesan cheese. Also, you don't have to make only basil pesto- you can easily make sun dried tomato pesto- just substitute the basil with sun dried tomatoes, that are marinated in olive oil.
It's very important to have the best quality olive oil possible- if you use poor quality olive oil, you'll be able to taste this in the pesto, and it won't taste nearly as good. Fresh basil leaves are also a must. Be careful when adding the oil, garlic, salt, and pine nuts- remember you can always add more- so start off slow.
Ingredients
- 1-2 small garlic cloves, depending on your tastes
- 1-3 teaspoons of salt, depending on your tastes
- About 2 large bunches of basil ( enough to stuff in a half liter container, washed and dried with a towel)
- About 4 tablespoons, or 60 ML of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 deciliter, or 1/3 of a cup of pine nuts
If you have a food processor, blender, use that to make the pesto. However, I simply have some sort of milkshake mixer thing, and it works just fine.
- Wash and dry the basil, and put it into the container that you'll mix everything in.
- Add one crushed small garlic clove. You can omit this, if you don't like garlic, but I like to use a small one. If you like a lot of garlic, add more. Remember, you can always add more- so be careful, don't start with too much.
- Next add the pine nuts. Again, you can always add more, depending on how nutty you want the taste to be.
- Now pour in the olive oil.
- Add the salt- be careful not to add too much.
- Mix with your blender, using a spatula to help. Blend until smooth, but still a little on the chunky side. Have a taste, and see if it needs anything- and then add whatever else you think, and re-blend.
- If you have some nice Parmesan cheese that you'd like to add, do so at the end.
